The xhubleta is immortalised on a postage stamp, promoting a treasure of cultural heritage

The xhubleta, one of the most distinctive elements of Albanian cultural heritage, has now also been immortalised on a postage stamp.

Prime Minister Edi Rama announced today that the new philatelic issue by the Albanian Post aims to promote the values, history and symbolism of this traditional garment.

“The xhubleta, this precious treasure of our cultural heritage, is immortalised also on a postage stamp, bringing its symbolism, beauty and history close to us,” Rama said.

Preserved for centuries in the lands of the northern Malësia, the xhubleta is one of the earliest and most distinctive testimonies of our folk culture.

Its characteristic shape, colours, ornaments and symbols carry the memory and worldview of the community that passed it down from generation to generation.

Every element of the xhubleta requires knowledge, craftsmanship and time. Technique and symbolism combine to create not just a garment, but a powerful mark of identity.

In Marubi’s photographs, the xhubleta remains a testimony of a time, of a territory and of the women who wore it with dignity. They preserve not only its appearance, but the history of a world that continues to speak even today.

In 2022, the artisanal know-how of making the xhubleta was included on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.

An international recognition that is at once a source of pride, but also a responsibility for this knowledge to be preserved, passed on and kept alive.

Through the Albanian Post’s new philatelic issue, today this image is transformed into a document of its time and a representative symbol of Albanian culture — from photograph to stamp, from national memory to the world’s attention.